Few cities in the world glide so effortlessly between the present and the past like Vienna. Its splendid historical face shows grand imperial palaces and baroque interiors, museums flanking magnificent squares – where the Habsburg rulers lived and married into empires.

As well as being the capital of Austria it is its cultural, economic, and political centre, with a rich history first as the Imperial seat of the Holy Roman Empire, then the capital of the Austrian Empire, and later of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The Habsburg Court tremendously influenced the culture that exists here even today.

In the centre of the city, the Hofburg Imperial Palace was the center of the gigantic Habsburg empire, now the Museums Quarter housing the treasures of what was once one the most magnificent of Euope’s dynasties behind a striking classical façades. It is the city of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler and Schönberg.

Almost half the city expanse is given over to parkland, with the ‘beautiful blue Danube’ cutting a path just to the east of the historical centre and the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods).

 

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Vienna Images

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  Typical Austrian tortes
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  The Mozart Memorial
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  St Stephen's Cathedral
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  The interior of St Stephen's Cathedral
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  The Austrian Parliament Building
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  The Staatsoper (Opera House)
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  The Staatsoper
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  Upper Belvedere Palace and gardens
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  Upper Belvedere Palace
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  Schloss Schönbrunn
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  Schloss Schönbrunn: A view of the Great Parterre on to the Gloriette
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  Schloss Schönbrunn
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  Schloss Schönbrunn
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  The Rathaus (City Hall)
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  A view of the city
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  A panoramic view from the River Danube
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  A view of the Danube

 

If you would like some more information on what to do whilst you are in Vienna, please go to www.wien.info

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